Congress Calls on Clemens and 4 Others to Testify

Trainer Brian McNamee, the former Mets clubhouse worker Kirk Radomski, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch.Credit
From left: Steven Senne, Ed Betz, Julie Jacobson, Robert F. Bukaty/The Associated Press and John Dunn for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Roger Clemens and his former personal trainer Brian McNamee have been asked to testify under oath before a Congressional committee Jan. 16 in what promises to be a compelling showdown.

Andy Pettitte, the retired second baseman Chuck Knoblauch and Kirk Radomski, a former Mets clubhouse worker who has admitted to being a supplier of performance-enhancing drugs to professional baseball players for a decade, are also being called to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the committee announced Friday.

Lawyers for Clemens and McNamee said they intended to accept the invitations. The others, who have all been linked to McNamee, could not be immediately contacted after the announcement by the committee.

McNamee, under an agreement with federal investigators to tell the truth or face prosecution, told the investigators and George J. Mitchell that he injected steroids and human growth hormone into Clemens at least 16 times in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Clemens has vehemently denied those allegations, although he said that McNamee injected him with vitamin B12 and the painkiller lidocaine.

Philip Schiliro, chief of staff for the committee, said the hearing would focus on the contradictory accounts of Clemens and McNamee. Schiliro said that Clemens raised factual issues about Mitchell’s report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. Mitchell, a former United States senator, was asked to make the report by Commissioner Bud Selig as an alternative to an investigation by the Congressional committee.

Clemens’s lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said in a statement: “Roger is willing to answer questions, including those posed to him while under oath. We hope to determine shortly if schedules and other commitments can accommodate the committee on that date.”

Richard D. Emery, one of McNamee’s lawyers, said McNamee would appear before the committee. “I think this was virtually inevitable and probably will clear the air,” he said. “Certainly we look forward to testifying.”

Asked whether any of the five men the committee has asked to testify would have to be subpoenaed, as players were for a hearing three years ago, Schiliro said: “We’re inviting them now. So we’ll take it one step at a time.” He added, “I think they’ll all come voluntarily.”

Emery said the hearing would affect the timing of his and McNamee’s decision about suing Clemens for defamation. Emery had been threatening to file a suit next week if Clemens says on the news program “60 Minutes” on Sunday that McNamee has not been truthful. Clemens is expected to say he was not injected with steroids or human growth hormone, although McNamee said Clemens himself provided the steroids in labeled bottles.

Emery said of the Congressional hearing: “It probably will delay any action that we would take in the civil arena. Since Clemens is going to go under oath, we probably would wait until all statements are made before deciding on a civil action.”

Clemens’s admission that he received some injections, while denying they were steroids, has raised speculation that there may be someone else, as yet publicly unidentified, who would corroborate that Clemens took injections, either by having witnessed it or having been told by Clemens.

McNamee has said he had no direct proof to back up his assertions that he injected Clemens with banned substances. Emery declined to confirm or deny that there may be a third party with proof. “That’ll all have to come out in due course,” he said.

Radomski’s cooperation with federal authorities after his arrest formed the heart of the report into what Mitchell called baseball’s “steroids era.” Radomski sold some performance-enhancing drugs to McNamee but has said he was not sure if McNamee used them for Clemens.

McNamee has said he also provided drugs to Pettitte and Knoblauch. Pettitte, a close friend of Clemens’s, has said McNamee told the truth about him.

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The prospect of three high-profile players facing pointed questions about drug use could be extremely unsettling to the Yankees organization and fans who cherish the memories of it’s the team’s four World Series titles from 1996 to 2000.

The committee had previously scheduled a hearing Jan. 15 to take testimony about the Mitchell report from Mitchell, Selig and Donald Fehr, the executive director of the players union. That session will still take place.

Clemens has declined to speak on the subject until after the broadcast of the “60 Minutes” interview, which was conducted Dec. 28 by Mike Wallace at Clemens’s home in Piney Point Village, Tex. It will be shown after CBS’s N.F.L. playoff coverage on Sunday.

Clemens has scheduled a news conference in Houston on Monday afternoon.

CBS issued a news release Thursday in which it said that Clemens acknowledged taking injections but denied that he had used performance-enhancing drugs. According to CBS, when Wallace asked Clemens if McNamee had injected him with any drugs, Clemens responded: “Lidocaine and B12. It’s for my joints, and B12 I still take today.”

In the “60 Minutes” interview, Clemens said that McNamee’s claim that he had injected Clemens with steroids or human growth hormone was “ridiculous,” and that he had never used any banned substances.

Congressional testimony is normally given under oath and with immunity. The testimony cannot be used directly as evidence of criminal conduct if there should be further investigation or prosecution for criminal conduct.

Because of that immunity, refusal to testify may be considered contempt of Congress and punishable by jail time.

Clemens was one of the most dominant pitchers of the past 20 years, with seven Cy Young awards and one Most Valuable Player award. His chances for election to the Hall of Fame — like those of Barry Bonds, baseball’s career home run leader, who is now charged with lying to a grand jury — are hanging on the thread of his denials.

McNamee was Clemens’s personal trainer for years and faced charges of drug distribution and lying to federal agents if he did not tell the truth. So far, federal law enforcement authorities have shown no interest in interviewing Clemens about his contradictions of McNamee’s statements.

Correction: January 9, 2008

A sports article on Saturday about the prospect of Roger Clemens testifying under oath before a Congressional committee misidentified the Texas town where he lives with his family. It is Piney Point Village on the west side of Houston  not Katy, a suburb farther to the west where he once lived. (The error has appeared in numerous articles and Sports of The Times columns in recent years.)

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D1 of the New York edition with the headline: Congress Calls On Clemens and 4 Others to Testify. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe